Although he returns to theaters this weekend with the video game adaptation “Until Dawn,” director David F. Sandberg reportedly swore off working on IP-based projects after the negative fan response to “Shazam! Fury of the Gods.”
Sandberg spoke candidly to GamesRadar about how his experience working on the “Shazam!” sequel (particularly the negativity from fans) drove him away from seeking out IP-based projects, at least temporarily.
“I mean, to be honest, fans can get very, very crazy and very angry with you,” Sandberg said. “You can get, like, death threats and everything, so after ‘Shazam 2,’ I was like, ‘I never wanna do another IP-based movie because it’s just not worth it.’”
Though “Shazam!” may have soured his appetite for IP, Sandberg said the script for his new film, “Until Dawn,” was so good he couldn’t pass it up. “I was sent this script, and I was like, ‘Ah, this would be so much fun to do, to do all these kinds of horrors? I kind of have to do it, and hope that the people see what we’re trying to do and like it.’ I really thought it was brilliant of the writers to come up with this time loop idea where the night starts over because then you do kind of get that feel of the game, when you’re replaying it and making different choices. I think it’s very much in the spirit of the game.”
The “Until Dawn” video game, first released in 2015, makes use of a “butterfly effect” mechanic, forcing players to make spur-of-the-moment decisions that alter the course of the story. Sandberg’s cinematic reimagining of the game translates the butterfly effect into a “Groundhog Day”-esque time loop.
“What I loved about the script [is] that it wasn’t trying to recreate the game,” Sandberg continued. “Trying to condense 10 hours into two, or something like that. But it is scary still, even though we’re doing a new thing.”
“Until Dawn” is in theaters now.
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